Pieces
by Augment
Summary: Drabbles and short bits of writing. Some unformed, or too brief. Topics vary, genfic.
1. She

**Title: **She**  
**

**Characters: **Zoro, Kuina, other crew members**  
**

**Warnings/Spoilers:** vague for Thriller Bark, future postulation for the sake of metaphysical conclusions

**A/N:** I was _trying _to write something introspective (big surprise) and in depth about Zoro and Kuina's relationship following a prompt about Zoro and Kuina actually being the same person, but this came out. It's too short and it has no coherence and I don't know what else to do with it.

(Resubmitted to fix screwy formatting)

* * *

**She**

_She'd _been craving sugar all day. But _he_ doesn't like sweet things; even amalgamated they aren't fond of overly saccharine treats. Like the ones Chopper's munching on right now. All sickly sweet and dyed horrendous colours, with syrupy centres that burst excitingly when you crunch down and flood your mouth with liquid heaven… He has barely realised she's hijacked their train of thought when she takes control of their hand too, and suddenly there is sweet on his tongue and she likes it but he's in control, he's _supposed_ to be in control and how on earth can Chopper _eat_ these things?

Chopper honestly didn't mind sharing his sweets (although it would have been nice if the swordsman had asked first), though he did wonder why Zoro would even want one of the special toffees if that was the face he was going to pull.

* * *

She's delighted (because she's winning, again) and so their face is smiling, but he's regressing to back when they first met (because she's winning, again) and all he wants to do is claw out of his skin and scream at the sun.

Robin tips back her hat and returns their swordsman's grin. It's so nice to see him relaxed and happy; it makes this perfect summer's day even better.

* * *

His captain is about to lose his head and she's _screaming_ at him about promises. He screams back, as loud as he can, of new and unspoken and stronger oaths, but their hand still falters and their legs still tremble and drag him down, away from his duty. His hate at this moment intensifies on an unprecedented level - he hates her for seizing his life before he knew what living even meant, and he hates Luffy for stealing their dream from her, and he hates her again for fighting so strong to get it back that he is so exhausted he can barely think. But his captain is about to lose his head. So he lets her go, and she clatters to the ground, and now it is _his_ knees that fall to the earth and it is _his_ head he can offer. If he thought for a moment he was going to live through this, he perhaps would have thought more of the consequences of his actions; she does not take being discarded well.

Brook sees the torment flicker across Zoro's face as he throws his swords away and prostrates himself in front of Kuma. The action is beautifully noble, but he knows something of the pain coming for the rest of the crew, and wishes he could move to stop it.

* * *

When he picks up the white sword again, hot rage consumes him, and it suddenly _her_ hand gripping the worn and familiar handle, but then he pulls himself together and it is _them_ again, and he tries not to think about how much less _he _is part of _them_ than _she_ is. He doesn't sleep for a week.

Usopp doesn't recognise the expression on Zoro's face when he finally gets his swords back from Nami. He's drawn it over and over again, absently, to understand it better. He hopes it's relief.

* * *

She's sinking. There were marines and a cannon and surprise but none of it matters because she is overboard and sinking and it feels like_ his soul is drowning_. When his air is all but expired and his fingers are millimetres from Wadou-but-not-Wadou there is a moment, when he feels he can let her go and grasp semi-freedom for the first time in his life. But he can't breathe, and it has nothing to do with oxygen.

Chopper watches anxiously as Sanji pulls a dripping and gasping Zoro out of the water. He's got the white sword in a death grip and Chopper's had enough panic attacks himself to recognise one when he sees it. The doctor locks Zoro in the infirmary with a paper bag and wonders how soon the swordsman will stop laughing hysterically. He wants to cry.

* * *

They're bored. They agree on this much. Nami holds up a skirt and top combination for Robin's approval. Sudden annoyance dominates his senses and his mouth is forming words he doesn't want it to: "Don't be ridiculous; you can't put blue and green together." Zoro looks briefly horrified and no one says anything, but Nami quietly puts the skirt back.

The navigator wonders whether she should be taking fashion advice from a man who expresses a preference for orange goggles, but she figures the look on the stoic man's face might just have been worth it.

* * *

The triumph they feel from Mihawk's defeat could not have lent her more strength, and he's a passenger in his own body as they return – covered in blood and grinning – and are enveloped in a joyful crew. It's only when Luffy looks into her eyes and frowns, true anger, that she backs off, and that he can again taste the rum he's been using to numb the pain.

* * *

And he knows, when he finally lies dying, that she'll be expressing a sorrow she never truly felt until that moment, and she'll be grateful she got a chance to really live. He'll see her smile, laced with tears, and think that sharing his life wasn't so bad, after all.


	2. The Price

**Title: **The Price**  
**

**Characters: **Zoro, Mihawk, Luffy

**Warnings/Spoilers:** Spoilers for timeskip, pure speculation, possible gore

**A/N:** I wrote this for a prompt somewhere which I've since lost. The prompt was something along the lines of how Zoro lost his eye.

* * *

"I'm well enough to train now. What do you want me to do?" Zoro shifts impatiently, itching to prove himself.

Mihawk, reclining, ignores the question. "Should I tell you the story of how Odin, the King of the Gods, came to know the Wisdom of the Ages, the knowledge that gave him the greatest power? Or do you know that one already?"

Zoro becomes still. He does indeed know.

There is silence for a good ten minutes. Mihawk stares lazily out the window, waiting. He betrays no tension. Zoro stares at his would-be teacher, thinking.

Before, Zoro had placed his life on the blade of the man in front of him. More recently, he had been prepared to trade that same life for that of his Captain's. That Luffy is enduring more to become stronger, Zoro has no doubt.

"Fine." Zoro finally says.

Mihawk's expression doesn't change as he unfolds himself from the chair and walks over to the younger man, approaching close. He lays his left hand on Zoro's shoulder, and raises the small, cross-shaped dagger in his right.

Knowledge is never given. In exchange for a drink from the Well of Mimir, Odin sacrificed his eye.

There is no sound but that of blood.


	3. Nami in Wonderland

**Title: **Nami in Wonderland

**Characters: **All the Straw-hats.

**Warnings/Spoilers:** None. Well, gratuitous over-use of Carroll's canon.

**A/N:** There was fan art, by someone, a while ago, who drew the straw-hats as characters from Alice in Wonderland. That's one of my favourite stories, and I was inspired. Except Nami doesn't have the patience to be Alice.

* * *

Suddenly, a boy rushes past her.

"Oh dear, oh dear…" she catches, as he races away. She begins chase and it's not long before she's abreast of him, keeping pace easily. His ears twitch rapidly, rabbit fur ticking his ridiculously long nose.

He sneezes. "Oh dear," he repeats. He pulls out a pocket watch, though his hand is shaking too much for him to read it. Nami's eyes gleam at the hallmark on the back and what she swears are diamonds marking the numbers.

"Are you running to get to something?" she asks, hoping to distract him.

"What? What! No, no, running _away _from… oh, my paws and whiskers!"

"Paws and whiskers?"

He slows down, and stops, looking nervously behind him, and she follows his movement, but doesn't see anything.

"She'll have my head," he whispers, apparently to nothing.

"What _is _going on?"

"Gotta go!" And suddenly he's off, faster than before, and he's lost in the forest with no hope of her following.

Nami smirks and idly swings the pocket watch by its chain. "Well, that's that! Where am I?"

She spots smoke curling out of the bushes a little way away and sneaks quietly towards it.

There is a… thing. On a mushroom. Smoking.

"You know, that's really bad for you."

The thing blinks at her. She sees it's blond and somehow blue as well.

"That's not what you're supposed to say."

She stamps her foot. "Don't tell me what to do!"

"Recite a poem."

"What? No! I… oh. Okay."

She clears her throat, and folds her hands in front of her apron.

"_How doth the little busy thief so amass her profit,_

_And claim debt upon debt to get so much extra off it._

_How quickly she ups the interest,_

_How easily she earns,_

_And welcomes the loan and bequest from those whose cash she burns."_

"Oh, how wonderfully true and correct, my delightful rose!"

"Huh? Don't be ridiculous, the rhymes were terrible. It was wrong from beginning to end!"

"That's my line."

"Look, what's going on?"

"One side," he says through smoke rings, "will make you taller. The other side will make you shorter."

"One side of what? The other side of what? And are you saying I'm the wrong height?"

"Of the mushroom. Of course not, my gorgeo-". He disappears in burst of haze.

Coughing, Nami glares at the mushroom. "It's perfectly round! Oh, this is ridiculous. I'm out of here."

"Yohohohoho!"

The sound startles her, and she cautiously approaches its source. There are two – no, three – very strange people seated around a long table, having tea.

"You should've seen it! I hit him, then he hit me, then I hit him again!" The boy gestures in accompaniment to his tale.

The tall man laughs loudly again, spluttering into his tea.

There's a snore from the table, where a moose is asleep, one hoof in a teapot.

"I'm a _reindeer_!" And he goes back to sleep.

The boy grins at her. "You want some bread and butter to go with that watch?"

"Yohohoho! Only the best butter will work!"

"I'll tell Sanji."

"He won't believe you. He says you see everything you eat."

"Don't you mean, he eats everything he sees?" the reindeer says through a yawn.

"Same thing."

"No, it's not. That's like saying, I breathe when I sleep is the same as I sleep when I breathe."

"With Zoro, it _is_ the same thing."

"You wanna hear a riddle?"

Nami's eye twitches slightly. "Look, I don't have the time-"

"Of course you don't, we beat time!" The boy repeats his punching motions from before.

"How," the tall man says, "is a raven like a writing desk?"

"They both have inky quills." She says, promptly.

"Wron- Oh. You might have something, there, Alice."

"Who's Alice?" comes the sleepy question.

"I want a new cup!"

"Stop!" Nami commands. "You, Hatter," she says pointing at the tall man, "who's in charge here?"

"I'm not the Hatter."

"I am!" says the boy, brandishing his strawhat proudly.

Nami's eyes narrow dangerously.

"The queen!" "She's playing croquet!" "That way!" comes a series of hurried replies.

"Right!" And Nami marches off determinedly.

On the way, she ducks to avoid a low branch, and comes face to face with a green cat. A grinning, green cat.

"Hey, you. Which way to the queen's croquet lawn?"

The cat just shifts slightly on the branch, its grin widening slightly.

"You don't have to be so." She stops abruptly by some weird compulsion. "If you grin anymore, your ears will fall in," she says, through clenched teeth.

"I," he begins, with an absurd amount of pride, "have absolutely no money."

Nami opens her mouth, changes her mind, then says, "The queen?"

"North," says the cat, beginning to fade away.

"Which way's North?"

The cat's tail curls lazily around to point upwards, before it disappears completely.

She scowls, and heads left by the sun. Eventually, the floating grin behind her goes away.

When she reaches the croquet lawn, all is chaos. The long-nosed man from before is scurrying from hoop to hoop, scribbling on a sheet, presumably keeping some kind of score. Various marines dressed in black and red are milling about aimlessly with boot marks on their faces and chests, and she can smell the smoke from the blond caterpillar.

Somewhere off to the side, a den-den mushi is blasted through three hoops in succession by a tone dial, and takes out a marine.

"Dammit, Two, hang in there!"

"Tell my mum I loved her, Five!"

"Headshot! Ten points!" the long-nose yells, writing it down. The Straw-Hatter, who was the source of this piece of chaos, cheers.

"Usopp!" comes the imperial command from behind her. Nami spins around as the queen sails past her.

"No mechanical aids. It's in the rules."

"Of course not, Your Majesty!" The boy scrubs out what he just wrote down.

"That goes for you too, Franky."

The King of Hearts pouts, and his blue hair droops. "Totally Not Super."

"Where's the duchess?" Nami asks.

"Who?"

"What?"

"Join the game, my dear. And the next time your cat leers at me, I'll have his head."

Nami looks down in confusion.

"Swordsmen don't leer."

"You're a cat."

The cat releases his claws with a snicker-snack. "Swords-cat."

Nami rolls her eyes. "Whatever."

"No, Luffy! Not like that!"

"Why not? It's more fun this way."

"It's more dangerous!"

"Yohoho! That missed me by the skin of my teeth! Even though I have no tee-wait…"

"Strong Arm Right!"

"Off with his head."

"Isn't that a bit harsh, dear?"

A smoky voice joins in, "You should have a trial."

"Good idea. Off with his head."

"What? What about the verdict?"

"Sentence first, verdict after."

"How fair and just, my butterfly!"

"You can't cut off my head, it's welded on."

"You're all nuts!" Nami bursts out, unable to hold back any longer.

The cat grins at her. "We're all mad, here."

Nami wakes up with a gasp, ponders on the truthfulness of the subconscious, and swears never to eat cheese after nine ever again.


End file.
